Jacob’s Pillow, the dance colony in Becket, Mass., is hosting a gay-themed weekend of performances, exhibitions and free events.  The second annual “Weekend Out” is a nice follow up to “The Untold Story of Jacob’s Pillow,” an article for the Gay & Lesbian Review by the Pillow’s archivist Norton Owen. JACOB’S PILLOW ANNOUNCES
SECOND ANNUAL LGBT “WEEKEND OUT”
AUGUST 5–7 FULL...

Nico Muhly “A Good Understanding,” Los Angeles Master Chorale, Grant Gershon conductor (Decca) “I Drink The Air Before Me” (Decca/Bedroom Community) New music’s Boy Wonder Nico Muhly. It’s not enough that he landed a commission from the Metropolitan Opera while still in his 20s (Two Boys, premieres in London in June at the English National Opera and shows up in New York in the 2013-14 season), but now he’s...

Eugenics — the science of improving a human population by controlled breeding to increase desirable characteristics — is a central theme in “Cold Spring,” which plays Friday and Saturday nights (12/3-4/10) in the EMPAC theater in Troy. Creator Sean Griffin chose the title as a reference to the studies in human potential conducted in Cold Spring Harbor, Suffolk County, during the early part of the...

NEW YORK CITY BALLET SARATOGA PERFORMING ARTS CENTER WEDNESDAY JULY 14, 2010 The Steadfast Tin Soldier (Balanchine/Bizet) Walpurgisnacht BAllet (Balanchine/Gounod) Namouna (Ratmansky/Lalo) “Ballet’s hip,” said one busy staffer of the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. That remark was less a hope than an observation, since healthy sized crowds are turning out for the second week of the New York City Ballet’s Saratoga...

NEW YORK CITY BALLET SARATOGA PERFORMING ARTS CENTER TUESDAY JULY 6, 2010 “All American” Fancy Free (Robbins/Bernstein) Red Angels (Dove/Einhorn) Barber Violin Concerto (Martins/Barber) Who Cares (Balanchine/Gershwin) With a roll of the snare drum and a cartwheel by a dancer, the New York City Ballet’s summer season got off to a fast start.  Tuesday night’s program at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center opened...

Get ready for more horses in Saratoga Springs. This time on the ballet stage. In his latest piece, “Estancia,” choreographer Christopher Wheeldon directs members of the New York City Ballet to buck and bray like wild colts. The piece opens Saturday’s annual gala at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. “It’s a cowboy ballet, set on a ranch in Argentina,” says Wheeldon, who will be on hand for the performance. ...

The contemporary performing arts in New York have no better friend than GWEN DEELY. She’s as devoted and busy an audience member as they come.  (All the more so, since she’s got a day job and doesn’t get free tickets like us critics.) I visit her in Manhattan regularly and she always gives me a report of the great events she’s attended. This year she seemed to have had a lot of peak experiences, including her own...

Everybody knows that gay men do up the best holiday decorations. But what about music for the season? Well, “The Nutcracker” and “The Messiah” are bigger and older hits than even “Rudolph” or “White Christmas,” at least in my book. And both were written by gay men, Tchaikovsky and Handel, respectively. There’s nothing quiet as inspired as “The Messiah,” at least...

Last Tuesday night in New York I was the guest at a lovely little dinner party at the home of Denes Striny.  He’s a tenor and voice teacher and later that evening his most famous student, soprano Lauren Flanigan, would be starring in a revival of Hugo Weisgall’s “Esther” at the New York City Opera.  We’ve become friends because we are both former students of Michael Cordovana, a retired assistant conductor from...

In the bio-pic “Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell,” Allen Ginsberg describes Russell as a poet who sings.  I like that because it puts a finger on why I’ve never connected well with Russell’s music. Lord knows I’ve tried many times, always hoping to sink into the numerous posthumous collections of his music that have come out in recent years.  His songs and instrumentals always feel like sketches to...